The 55th Hunger Games
by ProjectHG13
Summary: This is not a SYOT but please read anyway. Message me with suggestions if you wish. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

I wake up to the too familiar sound of waves crashing outside my window. They sound close so it must be high tide, prime fishing hours. Unfortunately no time for fishing today, instead I have the luxury of getting up and training for the reaping later. However, the training center us youth go to school at is closed on reaping day so all of us eligible for the reaping are on our own if we wish to train today. I eventually doze off to this soothing sound and eventually hear my dad creak my door open. Its barely dawn but I assume he wants me to train since of today's occasion. Personally I don't like to treat this day any different. I'm _technically_ a career so I'm very well prepared in all things combat.

"Toby get up and meet me at the shop" he whispers. I make a weird groaning noise and pull the pillow over my bed head.

I drag myself out of bed quietly so I don't wake my brother, Talon. He's spared this year being eleven but I know if he wakes up, he'll worry all day up to the reaping so I decide to give him a few extra hours of calmness. That's the only thing that makes me nervous about the reaping. Talon is the most important thing in my life and I really don't want to leave him and put him through the torture of watching me in the games. This year is especially horrible. Due to riots in districts one and two last year over so many kids wanting to volunteer, there was a law passed, this year anyway, that whoever is called will go and no volunteers will be accepted. This sucks for me of course because I knew that if my name was read off that damned piece of paper, then some other district four victor wannabe would take my place. I'm seventeen now so this is one of my last reapings.

I walk to the bathroom to brush my teeth. I quickly slick back my dark brown hair, splash some water over my face and walk out to the kitchen. I walk past the table and look at the empty chair that used to be my mother's. She used to sit there every morning and sip her tea and do a crossword puzzle. Then one day the chair was empty. She died after getting caught in a rip tide while fishing with my dad. She just went out too far in too rough water, and then she was gone. She was the love of my dad's life and it hit him hard. Its been a little over three years now and while my dad has returned to himself after a long period of grieving, still nobody is allowed to sit in her chair. I had to be our family's rock for a long time, Talon being young when it happened.

I'm feeling extra lazy today so I don't bother changing my clothes and head outside. I feel the nice sea breeze run across my face and can smell the salt from the ocean just yards away from my doorstep. I make my way down to my fathers bait shop along the shore and walk in.

"Hey, Pops" I say.

"Hey sleepy beauty I thought you'd never get down here" he laughs.

"Yeah well you're usually pretty serious about my reaping day training"

"Actually, Toby no training today. Lets go fishing instead."

"No arguments hear" I say

We walk over to the door and grab two tridents. If I get reaped and there's a trident in the arena, I have a very good chance of winning, that is if I decide to kill anyone. People say it's all about the training to win the games but I truly believe that it's about the decision to kill or be killed. Some kids could have won in past games but just couldn't take someone's life. I don't think I could make that decision until the gun fired in the arena and let my instincts take over.  
>My dad realizes I spaced out and calls me down to the water line. I take my shirt off and slowly walk into the water, trident ready. You have to find a good spot and then wait, totally motionless so you don't reveal your motives and scare the fish. You must be totally relaxed and patient if you want to be a successful trident or spear fisherman.<p>

After about five minutes I see a school of fish start to circle around my legs. I start to time how long it takes for them make one full rotation so my trident strike is effective the first time. When I know they are going to round my legs I launch my trident into the body of a bass and bring it up for my dad to see.

"Nice work Toby!"

I walk over to the beach to put tonight's dinner in a bucket. Out of the corner of my eye I see a girl from school checking me out so I decide to have a little fun. I pretend shes not there and turn and flex my back to her. I then suddenly spin around and smile at her and she walks away quickly and laughs playfully.

"That's not right!" my dad laughs

"Hey, Pop when you got it flaunt it" I laugh as a flex my muscles at him. 

The look on his face suddenly shifts to worry. I know he's worried I'll get on that train and never return. I decide to try to boost him up as much I can.

"Dad, please don't worry so much. After today I only have one more reaping to go." I say.

"Yeah but next time, you and Talon with both be in it." he says.

I forgot about this and know he dreads the day that it's going to happen.

"Well you better go get ready, you've got to leave in about an hour. You need to shower too you smell like fish." he laughs

I do as he says and walk back to my room Talon's gone so he must be off with his friends or something, hopefully keeping his worries at bay. I shower and walk over to my dresser to get some clothes. We're supposed to look nice so I decide to wear a light blue button up, dark blue pants, and brown shoes. but of course, me being me, I can't be totally stiff so I roll my sleeves and mess my hair a little.

* * *

><p>I step out my front door and start my walk to the district square. A little down the path a ways, I see my best friend Felix walking with his shoulders slumped. We normally don't talk much today so I just nod at him and he returns it and keeps walking. It is a very emotional day for him and his family, two years ago his older brother died in the games after being chased for hours by a mutt. Since then, he started training ten times harder, not wanting the same death. Today I'd say he's right behind me in the ranks.<p>

I finally reach the table of peacekeepers and I quickly move through the line to register. They hastily take my finger and prick it, smearing the small dot of blood on a sheet of paper and stamp my name on it. I find the section of older boys and find my place. I don't see Felix though. I sit and wait around and finally see my brother join my dad in the parents section. He seems okay today, thank God.

We wait for about ten more minutes and our obnoxious district escort comes to the stage. Her name is Talia and she's wearing a bright orange get up. I know the capitol, and girls for that matter, sometimes wear unique things, but come on. I laugh in my head a little bit at this.

I kind of zone out when she talks about the Treaty of Treason and when the clip from the president is on. I'm almost startled when she starts talking again.

"Now it is time to select one brave young man and woman to be tributes in the 55th Hunger Games!" she says, almost too excitedly. "Ladies first as usual!"

She walks over to the bowl of female names, taking tiny steps so she doesn't trip over her massive heels. She finally reaches it and with a big smile digs her hand deep down in the bowl, struggling to grasp a sing slip of perfectly folded paper, that hold the fate of a young girl. When she finally does she walks back over to the microphone and unfolds it.

She clears her throat and says, "Cora Lockheart!"

The sighs of relief from the hundreds of girls that were spared is almost deafening to everyone in the square. I glance over to the girls section and see the young girl take a deep breath, change her look of sadness to a huge grin. She's already playing this game like a victor. The name sounds familiar but I don't really recognize the girl until she walks up on the stage and her face is magnified on the big screen. She used to be in the same training class as me, until they changed it to training with people the same age as you. She was a year younger than me so she had to move to a class with the other now sixteen year old kids.

She walks up to the stage with confidence and instead of shaking the outstretched hand of Talia, she grabs her into a big hug. You can tell Talia wasn't expecting that so she plays it off with a giggle and a comment of how sweet and beautiful she is. Which is true. She is beautiful. Tall and thin, long, blonde hair, big brown eyes, and just a perfect face.

Once she is settled on stage she moves on to the boys. My heart starts racing I just think of Talon, and my dad. And when that makes it worse I think of all my training, trying to get some of my well deserved confidence back. She pulls out a slip of paper and walks back to center stage. It feels like an eternity until she unfolds it and says the name on it.  
>"Toby Wellwood!" she says. It almost feels like she screamed the name in my face. I don't even think I just start walking. I know not to look at my brother and dad so I just look straight ahead and force a charming smile similar to Cora's. When I reach the stage, I take Talia's hand and kiss it, followed by a wink in her direction, even though I find her repulsive."How charming!" she squeals."Our tributes, Cora Lockheart and Toby Wellwood!" The games have begun<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

The next thing I know Cora and myself are led off the stage into our town hall building. The only people that aren't the mayor and his staff that get to see it are the tributes and their families. Other than that peacekeepers guard it around the hour. We are taken by two peacekeepers down a dark hallway that leads to separate rooms. One for me and my family, and the same for Cora. Unfortunately we only have about five minutes to say our goodbyes to our families. It's a fairly simple room, a couple chairs and a couch, but comfortable nevertheless. I wait for about ten minutes until I see the door handle start to turn and my dad comes in hand on my brothers back, Talon with eyes full of tears.

"Hey, buddy" I say to Talon as I hug him.

"Please come back, Toby." He cries

"I _promise_ I will"

My dad has been watching all of this but still hasn't shed a tear. I think he does it for Talon because he knows that if he cries, Talon will absolutely loose it. I release a sobbing Talon and walk over to my dad. He starts messing with my shirt "Straighten up, look sharp, Toby" he says. I laugh at this and he breaks a smile and hugs me tight.

"You know what your doing, just think before you act and you'll be fine. I've seen you train and your advanced with practically every weapon. Just be smart, Toby." he says.

Just then a peacekeeper comes in to take my family away and my brother runs up for one last hug. He doesn't want to let go but my dad grabs him and leads him out crying. My dad turns to me right before he leaves and says "I love you, son. No matter what you do in there." and the door slams shut.

* * *

><p>Once me and Cora are on the train, we sit in silence for a while until Talia comes in. "Well congratulations careers." She giggles.<p>

"I think you too are the most charming and attractive tributes out of this district so far! Anyway, your mentors will be here in a few minutes so just relax and enjoy all of this!"

She leaves us and me and Cora just look at each other and laugh.

"That woman is ridiculous" she laughs

"Yup she's definitely out there." I say

"So.." she starts. "Lets just get this out of the way now. Do you want to be allies in the games?"

"Yes" I say plainly and she laughs.

"Good I don't exactly want you on my bad side, I've seen you train and wow."

"Same here with you. However do you think that we should ally with districts one and two." I ask

"Lets just wait to meet them...if they're assholes and talented, then yes, I don't exactly want them on our butts the second the gun goes off." She says.

"I'm on board with that." I laugh

With that, our mentors walk in. The guy's name is Ezra and he is, for lack of a better word, a monster. He one his games by killing the last tribute with his bare hands. It was a hard battle, he had beaten the guy to the pulp and eventually snapped his neck like a twig. He won three years ago I think. As for the girl, Eva, she won after a fight the lasted for two hours between her and another girl. She eventually disarmed her. and stabbed her in the lung. When she wasn't dying quickly, she put poison berries in her mouth to put her out of her misery at the very end.

"So I will your mentor, Toby. And Cora, Eva will be yours." Other than that they don't really say much except for the expected, 'Make allies' and the 'Don't get cocky'. They said they can't really help much until they see who we are up against.

"Guys listen, you shouldn't have a problem with sponsors because your considered careers but you still want them to like you so make it seem like you're more excited than you've ever been and they will eat out of the palm of your hand." Eva says.

Being from district four, we aren't very far from the Capitol so the train ride only takes about two hours. When we pull into the station, me and Cora hold hands and walk out of the train with big smiles on our faces. The Capitol morons love it, of course. I walk through hundreds of people, each wearing a crazy colored outfit, even the men. We walk through the crowd easily enough and one woman even faints when we meet eyes. This is going to be interesting.

We get on the elevator and when the door is just about to close, I see another couple tributes arriving. The girl and boy couldn't be more than twelve. The thought of them being here makes me sick. I sincerely hope they go quickly and easily. We arrive to the fourth floor suite and its stunning. The main room is by far the fanciest thing I think I'll ever see.

We finally get to eat and me and Ezra pile food on our plates. I feel pretty self-conscious about it because the girls are eating like birds. I have some really good fish, a rice dish of some-sort and potatoes. When I'm totally stuffed Talia starts talking about the Capitol culture, the parties and fashion of course, and I'm exhausted. Talia leads me and Cora to our rooms and I immediately see the big comfortable bed waiting and I pass out.


	3. Chapter 3

I wake up to a loud bang on my door. Ezra probably. I look at the clock and it's 7:00. Time to get ready for the tribute parade. I keep the same clothes I'm in because I know they'll throw out whatever I'm wearing anyway.

About ten minutes later Ezra comes to collect me. He laughs at the sight of my messy clothes and throws me a muffin. I don't ask questions and just follow him. "Okay so I'm taking you down to your dressing room to meet your stylist, Quinn. I really hope you're not the shy type because you will be totally naked for a while...and hopefully none of the capitol stylists will try to take advantage of your...looks, in the process." he laughs.

We head down the elevator into a hallway of doors. Eventually we reach one with my name on it and Ezra leaves me.. If I have to deal with people like Talia, I'm really in for a treat.

The moment I walk in, there are three crazy looking stylists jabbing and yacking at me about things I have no understanding of. "Strip down please and put your clothes in this bin." one of them says. I knew it. Next thing I know I'm laying on a table and they start scrubbing me, practically raw. I guess we have different definitions of clean. Then they put this warm stuff around my eyebrows. It felt nice until they put paper on it and yanked it off.

"What are you doing?" I yell

"Making your eyebrows perfect!" one giggles.

Once that's done they put me in this tub of slimy green liquid and it quickly soothes my raw skin. One of the only things I appreciate about the capitol. In a matter of seconds my skin turns back to its normal, tanned tone and the redness totally vanishes.

They leave me in there for a few moments and start talking amongst themselves.

"I don't think that we need to do the face treatment, it's pointless, he doesn't need fixing." they agree.

"What's that?" I ask smartly

"Oh we were just saying that we don't need to do the final step on you because its supposed to make your skin flawless and you already have that on your face and we have orders to leave the scar on your breast alone because Quinn wants to showcase it to make you look rugged." I'm flattered and confused at the same time. How could a serum make someone's skin flawless? I look down at my scar and think back to when I got it. Me and my dad were on our boat catching bait at the reef with nets. I pulled up a load of fish and in the load was a piece of coral stuck in the netting. It brushed across my chest and I ended up needing stitches.

"Okay you're all done then" one says and hands me a thin robe to wear.

"Lucky you, we barely had to do a thing to you!" another giggles.

"Yeah if you say so" I laugh as I flex my abs. Even they can't take away my sense of humor. Eventually Quinn comes in to get me in my costume and so on.

She brings in a black bag and a huge grin.

"Oh this is more perfect for you than I thought." She laughs. "While you may not like how...exposed you will be, its really gonna help you with sponsors, especially the female ones" she laughs "But don't worry no makeup on you"

I'm surprised at how..normal she is. She has dark hair in a braid and a simple black dress. She's not a capitol priss either which is nice. She first starts with my hair. She trims it slightly on the bottom to look more of a clean cut. She then slicks it off to one side with gel. She grabs the bag and pulls out a pair a short teal trunks. They design looks like fish scales, which is cool, but they are _very_ short. "Put these on" she says.

I drop the robe and am just stunned. They are short, tight, and sparkly when in light.

"Is that _it_?" I say

"No, no. I have one more thing." she laughs

She reaches in the bag and pulls out what looks like a fish net. Quinn makes me put it on and it sags on my hips and drapes down over my legs. "Oh yeah Quinn that really covers me up." I laugh "Look you have a really nice body and I want to showcase that." she says

"Okay now look in the mirror."she says

I look good. My hair sweeps across my forehead and every angle of muscle is shown in my outfit. "Oh one last thing. I want you to wear this necklace. It's close to your face so it brings out your blue eyes." she says

* * *

><p>I'm waiting for Cora at our chariot. I'm one of the first tributes here and end up waiting almost an hour. When she arrives, she looks amazing. Her blonde hair is wavy and flows over her shoulders. Her brown eyes are bolder with the makeup and shes wearing a costume very similar to me. Her teal parts look close to a bikini but much classier. Her net dress-like thing drapes over her shoulders instead of hips like mine. However we both are pretty exposed.<p>

"How was that experience?" I laugh

"Toby, that was horrible! They took every strand of body hair off with wax!" she yells

"Well at least that's the worst of it." I say.

Eventually we are put on our chariots. Cora and I decided to hold hands in the air to look like a team, which we are. Once it starts moving, I force a smile and she does the same. We see the light of the stadium and she tightens her grip. We suffer through the ride to eventually hear the presidential welcome. He thanks us for our sacrifice and how this must be done, but personally I think this sick man just wants to watch kids kill each other, I can see it in his face. I think of Talon and my dad. I want to go home to them as soon as possible. I have no choice, if a shows want he wants, that's what I have to give. I _have_ to play their game.


	4. Chapter 4

I wake up the next morning early. First day of training, time to see what I'm up against. I roll myself out of bed and go to take a shower. There are so many knobs and buttons in there so I just press at random until I get a super hot temperature. It takes a while for me to feel like all the gel is out of my hair from last night and I end up washing my hair at least three times. When I'm finally done I walk out to find my bed perfectly made, I assume by an avox, and my training uniform laying on it. Tight black pants, a short sleeve matching top with red and gray sleeves, and of course my district number on my sleeves and back, and black leather boots.

I walk out to breakfast and find I'm the first one there. I get my plate and put piles of food from the table on it. Talia walks in and is appalled at me gorging myself but shes stays silent. I want to eat more but she eyes me so I just sit and wait for Ezra.

He finally comes out sits down next to me. "We will leave in a few minutes, we have to wait for the girls.", he says.

"Today is the day to decide if you two want to ally with one and two. You're a career so you don't have to worry about hiding your skills from other tributes. So really work on the capitol version of the weapons you are great with, which are what exactly?" he says.

"I'm more of a trident guy, and a knife and spear thrower. Those are probably my best. I can use a sword okay, just not with as much accuracy and force as those."

"Okay great, so work on those today and then the rest of training you can work on other things, including survival skills."

"Yeah I will, except for the survival skills, I know they don't offer much of that at our districts training academy, but my dad always had me studying edible plants, how to start fires and stuff. I'm good with those."

"Alright, just make sure you work on other weapons like I said." he says. With that the girls walk in and Cora is wearing the same outfit as me, pants a bit tighter, which is nice, and her hair in a ponytail.

"Toby, you ready to go down?" she asks me

"Yeah let's go."

We get in the elevator alone and I press the button for the training floor. She looks a bit nervous so I grab her hand. I want her to know I'm here for her. I will help her in anyway I can during the games, till the very end of course. The elevator suddenly jolts to a stop and I release her hand when the doors open.

"Hey, who said you could let go?" she laughs. I smile and take her hand again and lead her over to where the training head is waiting for the tributes. When the last few arrive, she starts talking about the one major rule, no fighting with each other until the arena. When she's done me and Cora look around and wait for the the other careers. Cora nudges me and I look up to see four people walking towards us.

One boy, clearly the leader walks in front to introduce everyone. I'm not gonna follow orders from him in the arena, but I decide to hear what he has to say first.

"Hey my name's Axel, district two, and my district partner Vega." he's a big guy, looks to be about seventeen like me. Maybe just an inch or two taller than my 6'2 stature, and muscular like me. I could take him if I have to. He's got short, dark black hair, and I can't help but notice a bit of an arrogance in his stature, his chest and shoulders sticking out. The girl is smaller, he says she's fifteen. She's looks like shes about 5'4, which means Cora has at least 5 inches on her. Her hair is a dark, dirty blonde, almost brown. She's average sized, but physically not much of a threat. She tries to look intimidating, but it's easy for me to tell she doesn't want to be here. She never would have volunteered in the best conditions if that was allowed.

It's at this moment I realize how strong Cora actually looks under her feminism and beauty. She has strong legs, not big but muscular, easily seen in her tight black pants. Her arms follow that same pattern as well.

After they are done, me and Cora peek around them to see two other standing behind them. They walk in front of Axel and I start noticing something unusual about them. They look very similar. Same light brown hair color, green eyes, and same height of maybe 5'8. This starts to run around in the back of my head as they speak.

"Hey I'm Maverick and this is Raina. We're-" the boy starts. I interuppt them "Okay I'm sorry but what's going on. You two look so similiar it's freaking me out" I blurt.

"Oh yeah we're twins" Raina says. Axel laughs. We just look at each other while they go on. Twins. How unfortunate do you have to be to get reaped with your twin brother. Their parents must be a mess already, knowing they will only get one or neither back. I feel an ache in my gut at the thought.

"Oh" is all I can say.

"Sooo-" Axel starts

"Are we alltogether then? Allies I mean?" he says

"We're in. What about you guys?" Raina says to Cora and I.

"Sure" Cora says. I just go with it. She didn't hesitate so she must notice something I don't. I nod and we start over to the weapons area.

"Lets all sit together at lunch so we can get to know each others strengths" Vega says. Again we all just nod and debate where to start training.

"Why don't we start at sword training." Vega suggests. We all walk over to the station and we see rows and rows of different swords. Immediately I begin, picking up a longsword and walking over to a set of dummies. The swords a bit heavier than the ones back i the district but I quickly adjust. I lift the sword and begin attacking the dummies. I don't stop until I have caused serious damage to each one, either in the chest, throat, or arms.

"Wow" Axel says as he has only been able to get through two dummies while I have gone through six. He's slow to attack, but thorough. Good to know I can beat him at strikes. I chuckle at this and wait for more dummies to be presented at my station. I do this for about an hour when everyone decides they want to move on to knife throwing. I see Vega put back a samuri sword and look over at her dummies. She almost caused as much damage as me. With that though I try to remind myself that I need to work with an instructor in a real sword fight to work on defense because she will be a tough opponent.

We meet the girls there and I pick up about a dozen knives. There are moving targets just like the ones at my training center. I start throwing at every dummy until I'm out of knives. I look at my handywork and am very pleassed. I hit every single dummy in the chest. Axel missed two and he seems even more frustrated adding this failure onto his incompetence with a sword. He must be hiding the skill he's great at.

* * *

><p>Or so I thought.<p>

After lunch we decide to work on spears for a while. My other _amazing_ skill. I'mgood at it because it's a lot like throwing a trident, which I could do in my sleep. Every one does okay but me and Axel. We sort of had a silent competion going on. We both were hitting every target and he didn't want to stop working on it. Eventually everyone else except me and him moved on to the bow. He wanted to show me up to make up for his earlier frustration. So I decide to miss a target on purpose and thats the moment he wants to move on, proving my theory. Regardless of the smile, he is jealous of my ability, not having even seen my best skill yet, and will not like me in the arena for sure so I must watch my and Cora's back.

There's only about an hour and a half left of training so I decide to take my opportunity to work on my best skill, the trident.

"Hey guys I'm gonna go work with the tridents so I'm gonna skip agility today." They all nod and leave me to my talent. I ask a trainer to simulate a fight with me and he agrees. He's dressed head to toe in protective armour so I can strike him with my trident and the worst that will happen is him falling from the force. I walk over to the stand with the tridents and pick up one. The weight feels great in my hand, right, and the points are perfectly sharpened. There are three points the same height and a slightly taller, harper one in the middle, almost an exact replica of the one I train with at home, down to the height. This thought makes me feel safe because if there is a trident in the arena, it will be this one and I could do a lot of damage.

The trainor has a rubber sword and I'm supposed to disarm him and strike. I doge his strikes left and right and eventually ue the shaft of the trident to block a blow followed by knocking the sword out of his hand I then spin it back to striking position but hold back becasue I'm worried I will hurt him, and my groups watching.

"I guess you have picked you weapon for the arena" Cora says

I nod and the bell to leave rings.


	5. Chapter 5

The rest of the training days passed fairly quickly. I worked mostly on my trident skills and hand-to-hand combat. Today is the day for individual evaluations and I feel fairly confident. I walk out in my usual training uniform for some breakfast and I see Cora picking at her plate.

"Hey, Cora. Nervous about today?" I say

"No that's not it. I wanted to tell you last night but I didn't want you to worry."

"What's wrong?"

"Well when we were about to leave training yesterday I overheard districts one and two talking. They're worried that you're too good to keep around and that they think they should get rid of you during the first night." she admits.

"Okay after the bloodbath we can look for an opportunity to sneak away. That is if you want to go with me."

"Of course I do." she says. Just then my worry goes away knowing she'll be by my side. Just then I realize we're going to be late for evaluations. We get in the elevator and stop on the second floor. District 2. Axel and Vega get in and great us with big smiles. Right now I want to rip their throats out. I hold in my anger but Cora notices me tense up and grabs my hand. Again she makes me feel better. She has a way of simply looking at you and making your worries go away. That and I'm a sucker for brown eyes.

We get down to the training floor and sit in a large waiting room. All of the careers sit together laughing and chatter without a care in the world. Cora and I make a point to stay involved in conversation so they don't suspect anything. Just then they start calling people in. Girls go first and they start with district 1. It takes about 15 minutes per person but it feels like an eternity until district 1 is finished. I start to look around the room and see the other tributes shaking. I see a little girl probably twelve years old from district 7 on the verge of tears. She looks up at me and I can tell I scare her. Once Axel goes in for training I decide to get up and go talk to her. I sit down beside her and I think she's going to have a meltdown.

"Hey, my name's Toby" I say as sweetly as I can.

"Amelia" she says without looking at me

"Listen you don't need to be scared of me, I'm not going to hurt you." Just then Cora walks over and sits on the other side of the girl. We sit and chat for the rest of the time and she seems to calm down a bit, opening up to us about her home life. We assure her she will do fine and then Cora's name is called and hugs the little girl before getting up. As sad as it is, I know this innocent girl will never make it but for her sake I hope she goes quickly, feeling as little pain and suffering as possible.

Finally my name is called and I walk into the training room. I walk over before the gamemakers who sit high above me.

"Toby you have 15 minutes to present your skills so choose wisely. You may begin" he says

I decide to show off my strength first. I run over to a rack of heavy steel balls with handles on them. I pick up the one on the bottom rack, the heaviest one. I walk it to the center and I grip the handle tightly. I then use all my strength and launch it over my shoulder, it sailing ten yards or so before it clanks to the ground. I hear several reassuring mutters from the gamemakers above me and I quickly move to my next skill, knife throwing. Just like in training, several moving targets appear and get quicker and quicker but I hit every one in the chest or head. I then decide to do the same with spears, finding the same success. I then see a rack of swords and decide to use one. I grab a longsword and pick off the dummies one by one jabbing through the chest, arms, or even the head. Once I run out of dummies I run over and ask a trainer to assist me in hand-to-hand combat. Neither of us have weapons so he lunges at me but I manage to throw him off before I can hit the ground. Just as he gets his balance back I turn and throw a huge punch over the right side of his face, which of course was padded. He fell from the force, but gets up in time to come back at me, grabbing my midsection. He tries to get me off my feet but is unsuccessful. I knee him as hard as i can in the stomach and he releases his grip. I then tackle him as hard as I can punching him as he lay on the ground. He pushes me off him and I roll to the side. I get up quickly and run to him before he can make it up. I grab the back of his neck with my right hand and his chin with my left. The position we are trained to use to snap someone's neck. He acknowledges this and lays down to symbolize death. I know I have time for one more skill so I pick up a trident. Best for last. I use another trainer who now wields a sword, plastic of course, and we begin to fight. We block each others first few blows as we go but this trainer is by no means quick enough. He pulls back from a lunge at me and swings his sword down the shaft of my trident blocks it. I then i use the butt of my trident and swing it across his face, knocking him off balance. He has his sword ready and I dive and roll on the ground to avoid it and stick my trident into the padding of his chest.

I run out of time and thank the gamemakers for their time with a confident smile.

* * *

><p>After dinner we all make our way to the living room to watch Ceasar Flickerman announce the training scores. I look over to find Cora's knee shaking and I gently put my hand on it to try to ease her nerves. A large projection finally appears on the wall in front of us. Ceasar comes into frame with a classic look. His hair color this year is a stupid green with a complimenting suit. I will never understand capitol style.<p>

His voice booms across the room. "Hello ladies and gentlemen of Panem. As usual I'm your host for this years 55th annual Hunger Games! Let's get straight into the scores of the tributes."

He gets through them fairly quickly. Axel scores a 10 and Vega a 9. Maverick and Raina both score 9's. District three scores a 4 and a 5. Now I am up.

"Now we have Toby from district four. With a score of...11" A rush of relief comes over me followed by a small feeling of fear. If Axel hated me before, I'm sure he's out for me now. Cora gets a great score of a 10. We watch the rest with little interest. I do wait to see the small girl from district 7. She surprisingly gets a score of 6 so she must have some sort of skill. After her, most tributes don't break a 6 in scores so we feel no threat at the moment but I know not to get cocky. That has been the fate for many careers.

Tomorrow is interview day. I have to spend a whole other day getting embarrassed by my stylists. I walk to my room exhausted not bothering to shower, knowing in no way I will be considered clean by Quinn's team.

* * *

><p>I wake up late, the clock reading past 10. Today is mostly a lazy day because interviews don't start until 5:00. I just have a quick mentoring session about what my angle is going to be. Ezra comes in with a big plate of food and sits down to talk.<p>

"Okay so Eva and I have discussed what would be best for you and we think you should try to be confident but not cocky and funny. I don't know how well you'll do with that last part but make that your goal." he laughs

The rest of the time he just discusses etiquette like how I should walk and talk to the audience. Once he leaves I take a quick nap before I'm awakened by one of my stylists. They have set everything I need to be prepped up in my room. Quinn is waiting and I walk over to give her a kiss on the cheek. She blushes and playfully hits my arm.

They thankfully don't wax my eyebrows again but they do scrub me raw like when I first arrived. Quinn slicks my hair back and hands me a outfit bag. I'm almost scared until I unzip the bag to find a nice suit. Thank God. They leave me to get dressed and I slip on my fitted royal blue suit, white shirt, black tie, and black shoes. I surprisingly like it and walk out to find Cora waiting for me. She looks absolutely stunning. Her blonde hair are in waves that fall over her shoulders. She's wearing a white flowing dress that falls to her knees and shows off her legs. I check to make sure I'm not drooling.

We get to backstage and get in line according to districts. Interviews are only 3 minutes each and they begin with Vega. Her and the rest of the careers come off arrogant and bloodthirsty. When it's finally Cora's turn I turn my attention to the screen we have backstage. She really does look beautiful as Ceasar points out. The crowd loves her and she shows her confidence while remaining humble at the same time. Right before her time is up Ceasar has her do a spin for the crowd and they eat it up. She will get sponsors for sure.

When the crew leads me to the stage I take a deep breath. I put on a charming smile and walk across the stage with confidence hearing several screams from the ladies in the audience. I finally reach Ceasar and shake his hand before taking a seat.

"Toby we're so happy to have you here for this years games! How are you finding the Capitol?" He asks perhaps with much too enthusiasm

"I have to say when our train first pulled in it took my breath away. After seeing all you kind people it almost makes me not want to go back home" I lie with a laugh. Ceasar returns this and moves on to the next question.

"So with you a career tribute can we expect any allies on your side this year?"

"Now Ceasar I can't give too much away you'll all have to wait for the bloodbath to find out" I wink to the crowd and a couple girls go nuts.

"Oh alright" he says playfully "In that case tell us about your family" he insists. I really don't want these people to know anything real about me but I can't afford to disappoint.

"Well I have a great Dad who loves me and my younger brother, Talon more than life. He's always been there since my mother passed away when I was younger."

"I'm sorry to hear that" he says genuinely accompanied by several sympathetic "awwws" from the crowd. I got them in the palm of my hand. This is when I add. "That's why I need to win these games, to get home to them."

"Speaking of which Toby, I have one more question for you." he says

"How do you feel about heading into these games? Are you prepared to _kill_?" he asks. I take a brief moment of silence for dramatic effect but me and Ezra discussed situations like this and I almost immediately know what I'm going to say.

"As far as killing goes I think that decision can be what makes or breaks a tribute. For some it's a very hard choice. Now as far for me, it's an honor representing my district and I'm prepared, vicious, and ready to go." I say. This makes the crowd yell so loud I almost don't hear the timer signaling my time is up. Ceasar grabs my hand and raises it into the air. "Toby of district four!" I make my way off stage and I still hear applause from the crowd. I feel confident I will get a few sponsors.

I see Ezra and the rest of my group waiting for me. "You did great he says" with a smile. Cora comes up to give me a hug and I instantly don't want to let go from her embrace. "Okay" Eva says "You have to be up bright and early tomorrow so let's get you back so you can at least attempt to get some sleep."

* * *

><p>Once I'm in my room I put on comfortable gray sleep pants and a black shirt. This is one of the first times I actually put pajamas on during my stay. I sit on the bed and I hear a gentle knock. "Come in" I say curiously. Cora creaks the door open and I can't help but smile. God, I wish I had talked to her before the games.<p>

"Hey" she says. "Can I stay in here tonight?" I get up and greet her with a hug. I pull away only slightly and say "Of course".

I turn the lights of and we lay on the bed together I grab her hand and she comes over and rests my head on my chest. I put my arm around her and rub up and down her back. I can tell she's nervous. Even as cocky as careers can be I think everyone gets a little nervous.

"Are you ready for tomorrow?" she asks

"Not emotionally." I say "But with you there with me I'm sure I'll be okay" I say

"Are you going to kill people, Toby?" she replies

"I don't want to, but I don't see much of a choice. I'm sure I'll be haunted with it forever but I want to keep you and I safe. Will you?" I ask

"I don't see much a choice either" she says sadly

I finally get up the courage to say, "I wish we hadn't stopped talking when we were younger". They didn't separate us until I hit 16. When you turn that age you move up to advanced training which is also separated by gender.

"Me too" she says

I turn to face her and I really want to kiss her so I do. She clearly wasn't expecting it because I can feel her tenseness but almost immediately it melts away into soft kisses. We do this for a while more but I know that going farther will only make it harder once we get to the games so we just stop as I can tell she feels the same way. I just hold her in my arms as she faces me and after awhile we both drift off to sleep, me with a grin on my face.


	6. Chapter 6

I wake up to find my arms empty. Eva must have come to get Cora early this morning. I find some sadness in this but I get up to head to the shower. I allow myself a long time to just enjoy the heat of the water and the sea breeze soap. Finally Ezra comes and knocks on my door to tell me to come eat.

I find my training uniform on my bed. They will give us new uniforms for the games later but for now I have to wear this. I walk out into the kitchen to find it empty. Cora must already be with her stylists. I pile food on a plate because Talia isn't here with her judgement. I eat a huge bowl of oatmeal, plates of eggs, bacon, sausage, and potatoes, and finally some fruit. I figure this is going to be the last good meal I have in a while so may as well enjoy it.

I head down the elevator as usual and Ezra leads me to a air strip with a hovercraft on it. This is where we leave each other.

"Toby, listen you can do this. You're very skilled just don't do anything stupid." He wraps me in for an embrace and for a second I'm not sure what he meant by doing something stupid. Then I realize he's talking about Cora and I last night. I make my way to the craft, escorted by peacekeepers, where all the tributes sit. I'm one of the last to arrive and find my seat next to Cora. We aren't allowed to talk so I just rest my hand on her leg. Finally a peacekeeper comes over and takes my left arm. She holds a large needle and plunges it into my forearm. My tracker.

We ride in the craft for about 30 minutes until we land. Everyone is taken off individually and I leave before Cora. I'm taken to my own room where I find Quinn waiting for me. There's even more food in this room so I decide to take banana and drink some juice. I lay on the couch in the room until Quinn says I must get dressed. She hands me a bag of clothes and says, "I had no say in the uniform but it's the same for all of you."

I head into a dressing room. I strip down and open the bag. They've given me new underwear so I start there. Then I find a thick warm black pair of socks that are made of some weird material. Hopefully water resistant. I put them on and reach in to find what else there is. I find a dark green pair of cargo pants and slip them on with a black belt. I then put on a simple black t shirt. The last thing I find is my jacket. It's insulated with soft material but lightweight so the temperature can't be that bad. There is a hood though so I expect something. I put it on, it hitting my upper thighs, and zip it up halfway but leave the outer layer of buttons open. I walk out to find Quinn holding a black pair of leather boots, good for running. I sit down and tuck the bottom of my pants into the boots and lace them up tight. I stand up and Quinn tells me I'm all ready to go.

"Ten seconds to launch" I voice booms overhead. I walk toward a metal plate at the corner of the room and stand on it. The plate recognizes my weight and gives a faint ding. Just then a glass tube descends on me. I begin to feel a ruble below me and the plate begins to rise upward. The ride takes about 15 seconds before I'm blinded by the light of the arena.

My plate jolts to a stop and I look around. The tribute pedestals are all situated in a semi-circle around the cornucopia. We stand in a beautiful meadow and to my right are the woods, to my left is a big lake, and just beyond the cornucopia is a small mountain range. I look at the countdown displayed above the giant metal horn and it shows a minute left. I look into the mouth and find a huge array of weapons. I finally lay my eyes on a beautiful trident and that is my first goal. There are smaller items scattered farther out from the horn as well. I look for Cora and find her blonde ponytail three pedestals over on my right. We meet eyes just as the announcer says "Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one".

I dart straight ahead of me and assess my surrounding tributes. I jog and see Vega reach a few knives on the ground. She picks one up and looks around for her prey. She sets eyes on a small boy from district 12 and unleashes her knife. She throws it with so much force, lodging itself in the boys neck, nearly taking his head clean off. That's one. I see Axel pick up a knife and run into the cornucopia out of sight. Raina chases down another girl from district 9 but she is too fast. Maverick comes to help and tackles the girl. Raina swings an axe over her shoulder and slices through the girls chest. Two. I see Cora running to reach something on the ground when I notice a monster boy from 11 start to charge her. I let my instincts take over and sprint as hard as I can scooping up a hunting knife along the way. When I finally reach him I use all my force to tackle him to the ground like a pile of bricks. I manage to get on top of him and pin his arms with my legs. I them remember my knife and take it and swing my arm swiftly left then right, creating two deep slashes in his throat. He dies almost instantly. Three. I think I black out for a second then Cora helps me to my feet. "Thanks" she says. I just nod. I guess I've made my choice.

I look around and see a few more bodies. The girl from 12 and both from 6. I turn my attention to the cornucopia. I run towards it and reach my trident. It feels just like mine from training back home. "Toby!" I hear Cora yell and just as I turn a katana is coming down towards my head from an unknown tribute. I get my trident just in time to block the swing my metal shaft making a loud bang from the impact. I think back to evaluations. I take the butt of my trident and swing it as hard as I can across the boys face. He stumbles backward and with a grunt and I see it's the boy from 5. He comes back for another swing. My trident meets his katana hard and it is knocked free from his hand. I then readjust my trident to striking position and jam it upward into the boys chest as hard as I can. With a loud gasp I remove the trident and he falls to his knees first. He only remains up for a few moments more before falling onto the ground dead. That's seven dead altogether as far as I can see. Two already caused by myself. I look around and only see Cora fighting off a girl from 3. The girl as well as Cora wield hunting knives. They manage to evade each others first few strikes but just as the girl brings her knife down on Cora, she grabs her arm and twists it all the way around breaking it. I can hear the crack of bone from where I stand and Cora takes this chance to drive her knife into the girls heart, killing her instantly. Eight.

There is one stray tribute grabbing a backpack. We meet eyes for a moment before she sees my trident. She takes off toward the woods out of sight. That just leaves the careers to gather supplies. I walk back to where they are gathered. "Okay" Axel says, "Lets get what we need in no more than 10 minutes so we can take off" I guess he's the leader. We all just nod and begin to look around. The cannons begin to go off for all of the dead tributes and we count eight total. I lay my trident down to start a pile of things I want. I find a backpack filled with packs of nuts, dried fruit and dried meat, and two canteens of water, and a small box of matches and take it back to my pile. I then find a small vest of a dozen or so throwing knives and take my jacket off. I strap the vest on and put my jacket back on, zipping it again to conceal my vest from other tributes we may encounter. I then find my way to two big hunting knives. They both have holsters so I put one on my belt and strap the other to my calf. Just to be safe I toss a hatchet and short sword into my backpack along with my food. I strap it on to me and pick up my perfectly sharp trident just as everyone is ready to get going. Everyone carries a backpack. Axel wields a longsword and has three spears in his other hand. I see Cora too has a vest of throwing knives along with Vega. Cora also has a short sword. Maverick carries two bladed staffs and Vega finally has a hunting knife in her hand along with her vest. I have grabbed the most weapons of over all of my other "allies" and feel safe with this thought.

We finally begin to walk and Cora and I meet eyes knowing we need to find a moment to slip away from districts one and two. Once we get far enough away from the bodies the hovercraft appears. We ignore it and keep walking towards the woods.

* * *

><p>We walk for a while scouting the area when Axel suggests setting up camp for the day. I'm starting to get nervous that one of them will make a move towards me or Cora so I make sure I have Axel in my sights at all times. Finally Maverick suggests we hunt while we have energy and save the food we have in our packs. I take this chance and volunteer Cora and I to go.<p>

"I go too" Maverick says. Shit. I wish this was easy. We leave camp and walk for about a mile when we decide it's a good time to start setting traps. "I'll go this way" Maverick points. "Okay we'll start around here then" I say. I start to set up simple traps I learned when I was young and keep checking on Maverick when he's finally out of sight I nudge Cora and gesture to my right. She understands and we quietly start to walk off. I get just a little ahead when I hear a thud. Cora hits the ground with Maverick behind her a cynical smile on his face and blades in hand.

"I just knocked her out, nothing compared to what I'm going to do to you."

He rushes me and I put my trident horizontal to block the force of the blades when he swings and the force of impact knocks one away. Maverick, with a loud grunt brings his blade up and swings down again on my trident. The impact of the metal stings my hand so bad I drop my trident. I dive off to the side to evade his strike. I get up and charge him dodging another strike as his blade hits dirt. I manage to wiggle the handle of the blade free from his hand and toss it into the woods. I struggle to gain control but I manage to get a few good punches in. He manages to unhook my knife from my calf and jabs at my face. I move just enough for a shallow slice on the side of my head. I feel some blood start to drip over my ear. I grab Maverick's wrist that hold the knife and bend it back as far as I can. He screams and drops it. He brings his knees up to my stomach and rolls me off him. His injured wrist makes him get up slow. The force of his knees make me gasp for air but I manage to get up. I drag him by his hood choking him. I grab him by the throat and he puts his hands up. I just shake my head and put one hand behind his head and one on his chin. And finally with a swift movement I snap his neck and he crumples to the ground. That's three for me.

The cannon booms and I know the rest of the careers will come running. I rush to put my knife back in its holster and pick up my trident and put my pack on. I run over and life Cora up. She's light enough that I can run and we move on, leaving Mavericks crumpled body behind.

Dead:

District 12 boy- Vega

District 9 girl- Raina

District 11 boy-Toby

District 12 girl-Maverick

District 6 boy/girl-Axel

District 5 boy- Toby

District 3 girl-Cora

Maverick-Toby


End file.
